Drug menace: NCB seeks travel ban on some African countries

The Narcotics Control Bureau NCB has written to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Intelligence Bureau IB and has cited major challenges in dealing with African nationals involved in drug smuggling activities across India especially in Mumbai and Delhi while seeking a travel ban or strict visa policy for some African countries Officials have said they use various tactics to dodge law enforcement agenciesSources in the department have said 90 per cent of the foreign nationals who have been arrested in connection with various drug smuggling syndicates are from NigeriaThe presence of Nigerian nationals involved in such activities across India especially in Mumbai and Delhi seems to have become a major challenge for the antidrug agency as they use various tactics to dodge law enforcement agencies despite their arrest in multiple NDPS cases ldquoWe have written to the authorities concerned multiple times seeking a ban or some very strict visa policy for some African countries to curb the drug menace in India In most cases the drugs in question have their origin in African countries and various African nationals living in India are also part of this syndicaterdquo an NCB official told middayAlso read NCB files chargesheet against Bharti Singh Haarsh Limbachiyaa in drugs caseIn 2017 the issue of the drug menace involving African and Nigerian nationals was raised in Parliament Representation picThe official added ldquoIf we arrest 10 foreign nationals in NDPS cases eight to nine are from African countries usually Nigeria This year in Mumbai 20 African nationals from Nigeria Uganda Tanzania and the Ivory Coast have been arrested by the Mumbai AntiNarcotics Cell and the NCB In 2021 around 43 African nationals were arrested by the ANC and NCB in Mumbai Of those 40 were from Nigeria Similarly in 201920 around 25 Nigerians were arrested by the ANC in the city aloneldquoAfrican nationals are mostly present in areas on the outskirts of Mumbai and most of them have criminal records They either figure in NDPS cases or are involved in cyber fraudrdquo said Datta Nalwade DCP ANCAccording to the NCB multiple Nigerian nationals have entered India using a single passport by changing the photograph in the travel document ldquoIt appears that they have been manipulating the passport system in their own country to use one passport for multiple people and the same has been noted in various casesrdquo an NCB official saidAccording to the NCB around 8000 Nigerian nationals are living in India despite their visas having expired as per data provided by the Bureau of Immigration to the antidrug agency ldquoThis is concerning as most of them are suspected to be involved in different types of crime mostly drug smuggling and cyber fraudrdquo the official addedIn 2017 the issue of the drug menace involving African and Nigerian nationals was raised in Parliament Then the thenminister of state in the Ministry of Home Affairs shared consolidated data of cases in which African and Nigerian nationals were arrested by various states Maharashtra Delhi and Goa had topped the listAs per the data from 2014 to 2017 in 331 cases around 364 Africansmdashincluding Nigerian nationalsmdashwere arrested across India out of which 166 cases were reported in Maharashtra and around 125 Africans were arrested from MaharashtraldquoThe governmentrsquos initiatives to prevent drug trafficking include intensive preventive and interdiction efforts along known drug routes strict surveillance and enforcement at import and export points increased international cooperation for information exchange and investigative assistance in administering control over the movement of narcotic drugs psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals and training programmes for law enforcement officials to upgrade their skillsrdquo the minister had saidAccording to NCBrsquos annual report during the past two years the trafficking of heroin from African countries to India has increased This is being carried out by human carriers or personal belongings as well as in courier parcels The major source countries for such trafficking are South Africa Uganda and Kenya During 20202021 52 instances involving human carriers and 11 instances involving trafficking via parcels sourced from African countries were reported to the NCB364No of African nationals arrested across India from 2014 to 2017